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Cycling Conduct: Working Brakes

This week we continue the series on the Bicycle Specification rules. Article 5.11j requires that bicycles used in competition must have a working brake on each wheel. This rule effectively eliminates track bikes and any other bicycle which either has no brakes or only one brake from competition. It also specifies that bicycles have two wheels, which is not mentioned anywhere else in the rules.

Violations of this rule were exceedingly rare for our first twenty years as a sport, but we have seen a number of participants bring track bikes with no brakes in the last two or three years. Those participants were not allowed to race or were disqualified. Make sure your bicycle has both brakes and that those brakes work!